(Michael Chamberlain/Nevada Business Coalition) – A new report released by the Nevada Secretary of State’s office provides evidence for what many people had been whispering hesitantly – the Silver State’s economy may finally be on the cusp of a real, live recovery. The question now is, should we encourage and nurture it? Or suck the life out of it while it’s still in its infancy?
Many indicators point to Nevada finally emerging from the depths of The Great Recession. This downturn decimated the private sector, whose plummeting revenues, in turn, devastated government budgets. The latest figures from the Secretary of State show that the private sector is beginning to get back on its feet again.
New business entity filings, considered a leading indicator, were up for the second quarter in a row and increased 12% over the previous year. For the first time since 2007, employment was up over the same quarter of a year earlier.
As struggling businesses recover, as new companies are formed and as these businesses realize increasing sales, they begin to see a little bit of daylight and feel confident about the prospects of the future. And they begin to hire more people.
It’s taken nearly four long, arduous years but, slowly, businesses are starting to see the first light of the dawn of a new recovery. That new recovery means increasing business activity. That increased business activity means more tax money for the state of Nevada.
One sure way to douse that flicker of light would be to increase the burden of government. But that’s exactly what the Democratic majority in the Legislature wants to do.
Rather than take advantage of the increasing revenue destined to become available as a result of the coming boom, they propose to saddle the state’s economy with a billion-dollar-plus tax package. This monstrosity will stifle business development and private job growth and continue to feed the ever-growing government blob while the private sector is forced to suffer the same starvation diet it has been on for years.
When the Democrats’ program has smothered the recovery and failed to generate the revenue they’ve predicted – and already spent – rest assured, they’ll be back for more. Because it’s all about more, it’s always about more – more of your money to hand out to politically-connected businesses and government unions and more control over your life.
Even during the height of the housing bubble, when revenues flooded in at record rates, the big government advocates still wanted more. No matter how much money the boom created for the state, it was never enough.
As Nevada’s economy finally starts to gain a little steam and begins the road to recovery, tax revenues in the state will recover along with it. We need to avoid the urge to increase taxes and smother that recovery.
(Michael Chamberlain is Executive Director of Nevada Business Coalition.)
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